Another figure very often seen upon Chinese vases, and now, alas! on some European vases also, is the Dog of Fo (Fig. 65). It frequently does duty as a handle, but occasionally it forms an ornament, either by itself or sporting with another of the species. In the latter cases its lion-like appearance degenerates into a hideous ugliness thoroughly Chinese, and illustrates the peculiar tendency of that people to bestow upon their fantastic monsters a massive breadth of jaw and cavernous oral capacity, such as we find in their dragons and in the Ky-lin next to be noticed. The Dog of Fo is the Buddhic guardian of temples and altars. [Illustration: Fig. 66.--Vase, surmounted by Ky-lin. Flowers in Relief. (A. Belmont Coll.)] The Ky-lin (Fig. 66) is one of the most forbidding chimeras ever chosen as an omen of good. Its scaly body, its wide mouth fully armed with formidable teeth, its dragon-like head and hoofed feet, make up a monster as horrible in aspect as it is gentle in disposition. [Illustration: Fig. 67.--The Sacred Horse.] The Sacred Horse (Fig. 67) is preserved by the Chinese among their symbols, because by the marks on the skin of a horse which suddenly rose from the river, the philosopher Fo was inspired with his diagramic solution of the methods of nature. [Illustration: Fig. 68.--The Fong-hoang.] The Fong-hoang (Figs. 68 and 69), the immortal bird, harbinger of good, very often resembles a peacock on the wing. When represented in front, its arching neck is turned to one side, and the long tail feathers are fantastically drawn high over its body. Formerly it was the imperial emblem; but on the adoption of the dragon it was relegated to the empress, whose emblem it became. The symbols of longevity are the white stag, the axis deer, the bat, and the crane; of filial piety, the stork; of happy marriage, the mandarin duck. The months are represented as follows: January, tiger February, rabbit; March, dragon; April, serpent; May, horse; June, hare; July, ape; August, hen; September, dog; October, wild-boar; November, rat; December, ox. [Illustration: Fig. 69.--Vase with Fong-hoang. (Robert Hoe, Jr., Coll.)] In China, almost every usage is regulated by a specific rule; and we are not astonished, therefore, to find that colors and shapes in porcelain and pottery are distinctive of the rank of the possessor, and have, besides, a symbolical signification. Thus one dynasty, the Tsin (A.D. 265), took blue as its imperial color; the Soui (581-618) took green; the Thang (618-907) took white; the Ming, green; the Tai-thsing, yellow. The colors thus frequently give a clue to the age of pieces. The first dynasty began B.C. 2205; the twenty-first, or Ming, A.D. 1368; and the twenty-second, or Tai-Thsing, in 1616. Apart from the dynastic significance of colors, they enter largely into the complex system of Chinese symbolism. Thus the points of the compass and the elements are represented as follows: